Norwegian court convicts Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s son of rape and sentences him to prison

A court in Norway on Monday convicted Marius Borg Høiby, the 29-year-old son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit, of rape and sentenced him to four years in prison. The case has dominated Norwegian and international media, embarrassed the royal family, and further damaged the monarchy’s popularity.

Høiby, the eldest son of Mette-Marit from a previous relationship, is the stepson of Crown Prince Haakon, the future king. He has no royal title and is not in the line of succession, though he has grown up within the royal household since age four. Mette-Marit and Haakon also have two children together, Princess Ingrid Alexandra, 22, and Prince Sverre Magnus, 20.

The trial lasted six weeks and ended in March, after a two-year investigation. Høiby faced 38 charges, including four rape counts involving women who were asleep or otherwise unable to resist between 2018 and 2024, as well as drug offenses, abuse in a relationship, death threats, vandalism, traffic violations, violating restraining orders, and taking intimate photos of women without their knowledge. He denied the rape charges but admitted some lesser offenses, including breaching restraining orders and handing 3.5 kilograms of marijuana to an unidentified person. Judges convicted him of two rapes and acquitted him of two others, including one rape they said took place in Crown Prince Haakon’s basement. Prosecutors had sought seven years and seven months in prison, while his lawyers asked for 18 months on the lesser offenses. His defense said it will appeal.

The court also found him guilty of violence against a former partner from 2022 to 2023, saying he punched her repeatedly, strangled her, slammed a door on her, and threw objects at her. Only one of the women who complained against him attended the courtroom, and she cried when he was convicted of raping her. Høiby followed the proceedings remotely from prison, where he had been held during the trial.

The case added to pressure on the royal family while Mette-Marit has also faced scrutiny over ties to Jeffrey Epstein, which she again apologized for after US-released files showed continued contact after his 2008 sex conviction. A Norstat poll on February 21 showed support for keeping the monarchy falling from 70% to 60% during the trial, then rising to 64% in a later poll. Separate concern over Mette-Marit’s chronic pulmonary fibrosis may also be affecting public sentiment, as doctors have warned she may have only about a year to live without a lung transplant. Last week the court allowed Høiby to leave prison to be with his ill mother, but that decision was overturned after prosecutors appealed.